From Confessions to Finds
by Sara Jaye
Summary: Ken confesses to Jun and the two begin a romantic relationship. The rest of the team slowly finds out in...interesting ways. A trilogy of vignettes.
1. If I Only Had The Words

The only thing more frustrating than repressing your feelings for a person, Ken decided, was trying to figure out how to _tell_ that person how you felt. Roses, wine and a romantic balcony were too cliche. The radio stations call-in number was always busy, so there went Joe's suggestion of dedicating a song to her. Ryu suggested cooking her a big feast to make up for his tab at the Snack J, which might have worked if Ken knew how to cook more than a few things. Jinpei suggested a love letter, but two mountains of crumpled papers later it became obvious _that _wasn't going to work.

Finally, he begged Nambu-Hakase for advice, after explaining he _knew_ it was risky to have a relationship with a teammate, but he was very serious about Jun and promised he wouldn't let his feelings for her get in the way of his work.

"Just say what's in your heart," Nambu-Hakase had said. _What's in my heart's easy, it's getting it to come out of my mouth without tripping over the words that's going to be hard!_

Ken came to her apartment empty-handed, with sweaty palms and a pounding heart. Jun came to the door in her bathrobe, looking genuinely surprised and a little embarrassed.

"I'm sorry to drop in on you so late...especially right now," he said. "But there's something I need to tell you. It's important."

"Oh? Is something wrong?" she asked, eyes concerned.

"No, nothing's wrong. In fact, everything's right. _This_ feels right." He took her hands in his, looking into her eyes. "Jun, I'm in love with you. I've been in love with you for a long time but I was too stupid to admit it to myself, and now that I have I don't want to put off another second admitting it to you."

"..._Ken._" Her eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth.

"I-I understand if you might not feel the same way," Ken said. "I mean, I know I can be pretty insensitive, I've probably hurt your feelings by ignoring yours...so look, if you decide you'd rather not be with me it's all right! I'll be devastated, but I'd-"

She cut him off by throwing herself into his arms. Ken stumbled, grabbing onto the doorframe to keep his balance.

"Shut up and kiss me," she said, and he gladly did as she asked.


	2. It's About Time

When Ken awakened and found himself on an unfamiliar couch, he panicked. Then he heard a sweet voice calling to him and remembered the night before.

"Morning, Jun," he yawned, stretching and smoothing the wrinkles out of his shirt. "Thanks for letting me stay here. You sure Jinpei won't-"

"Jinpei won't what?"

"Oh, no!" Jun groaned as she ran into the sitting room of the apartment. "He wasn't supposed to be awake for another hour."

"So what's this I hear about you staying on our couch, big brother?" Jinpei asked. "I mean, I know you two had a thing for each other, but-"

"Nothing happened!" Ken and Jun shouted in unison.

"Well, we kissed." Jun crossed her arms over her chest. "Ken came over last night, confessed his love to me, and we kissed."

"Right." Ken stood up and wrapped an arm around her. "Now, Jinpei, I know the relationship between your sister and I is hardly a secret among the team."

"Boy, you've got that right," Jinpei laughed.

"But Ken and I want to decide when we'll tell everyone we're...well, official," Jun said. "So if I hear you've been blabbing about us to the whole ISO, you'll be doing the dishes at the Snack J for two months. Got it?"

Jinpei sighed.

"Boy, sis, you drive a hard bargain. All right, my lips are sealed," he said. "But I hope you decide to tell them before the first baby shows up!"

"_Jinpei!!_"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Man, can't you take a joke?"

As they opened the Snack J that morning, Ken made a mental note to buy some condoms...just in case.


	3. An Interesting Find

The third and final installment in the triolgy. :3 Also due to a technical goof-up, the ice pack has been changed to a heating pad.

* * *

"That was close," Joe grumbled as three of the five Science Ninjas stumbled back to Ken's shack. "Jinpei, how's your leg?"

"Still hurts an awful lot," the Swallow admitted, hobbling over to the sofa. It hadn't been one of their easier fights, and the Science Ninja Team had only "won" by Katse switching off the mecha and fleeing. Jinpei had taken a nasty fall while trying to help Jun dismantle the mecha. "Where're sis and big brother Ken?" he asked.

"Jun's back at your place taking a shower and Ken's talking to Nambu-Hakase," Joe said; Ken had told them to wait at his shack because it was closest to where the battle had taken place. "Ryu, go get a heating pad, I think Ken's got one in his room somewhere and I don't wanna catch any shit from him for looking through his stuff."

"Gee, thanks a bunch," Ryu snorted, but went off to Ken's bedroom anyway. It wasn't spotless, fortunately, just messy enough for him to find the heating pad without Ken noticing anything was out of place. "Let's see..." He began to root around in a desk drawer, but something caught his eye. "Eh?!" He pulled the package of condoms out of the drawer. "Uh, Joe?" he called. "I could, uh, use your help looking for the ice pack!"

"Okay..." Joe strode into the bedroom, eyes widening when Ryu held up his find. "What the-"

"Shh!" Ryu closed the door. "All right, I don't wanna jump to any conclusions right away...are these yours, Joe?" he asked. Joe rolled his eyes.

"Why would I be hiding my condoms at Ken's place?"

"Good point," Ryu conceded, "but why would _Ken_ have them? You know how he is about girls."

"Also a good point," Joe said, then grinned. "Of course, Jun seems to have a bit of a _glow_ about her lately, and we know she's not pregnant."

"Because of _these_," Ryu added. "Which means..."

Joe's grin widened.

"Pay up, buddy. I told you it'd happen sooner than later," he said. Ryu dug a twenty out of his pocket.

"This is one bet I don't mind losing!" Then he remembered his original mission. "Right, the heating pad."

*

"What took you so long? My leg could've fallen off!" Jinpei said. Joe and Ryu exchanged a glance, then shrugged.

"Ken's room's so messy it took us a while to find the thing!" Ryu lied.


End file.
